Listen to the Voices: Student Learning Through Ohio School Libraries …

1. Listen to the Voices: Student Learning Through Ohio School Libraries … Dr Ross J Todd Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries, Rutgers University Ann Tepe INFOhio, Columbus, Ohio Gayle Geitgey Director of Media and Technology Services, Urbana City Schools, Ohio

2. WHY DO SCHOOL LIBRARIES EXIST? INFORMATION  KNOWLEDGE Developing knowledge and understanding

3. Plutarch “The mind is not a container to be filled, but a fire to be ignited” Learning in the Information Age School

4. Great Minds at work? Thinking Innovation Creativity Clarity of focus

5. The Information-to-Knowledge Challenge

6. How do effective school libraries help kids? 25,574 students tell us! 1,812 teachers tell us!

7. 3 Studies: Student Learning Through School Libraries • Ohio: 13,123 valid student responses and 879 teacher responses (39 schools) (2003-4) • Australia: 6,718 valid student responses and 525 teacher responses (46 schools) (Lyn Hay, 2004-5) • Delaware: 5,733 valid student responses and 408 teacher responses (13 schools) (2005-6)

8. “Student Learning through Ohio School Libraries” • Funded through Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) grant from Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through State Library of Ohio • Undertaken by Ohio Educational Library Media Association (OELMA) in collaboration with INFOhio and Dept of education, and through CISSL at Rutgers University

9. “Student Learning through Ohio School Libraries” • identify how students benefit from school libraries through exploring the “help” construct • provide statewide data on best practices in school libraries • improve teaching and learning in information age schools • encourage continuous improvement in school library services • promote dialog among parent communities, school boards, administrators, school librarians, and teachers on the value of effective school libraries

10. Defining the Study Central question that drove the research: What is the evidence that shows school libraries in Ohio help student learning? The Student’s Voice

11. “Student Learning Through Ohio School Libraries” • 39 school libraries participated • Criteria for selection validated by the International Experts Panel • Schools selected by Ohio Experts Panel • Grades 3 – 12 • Web-based data collection (Rutgers sites) • Data collected from 28th April to early June 2003 • 13,123 valid student responses (13,328 logged) • 879 teacher / administrator responses (935 logged)

12. Selection Criteria Any school (building) in Ohio may be selected for the research project if it meets the established criteria. Minimum requirements: • The school building includes at least one of the K-12 grades. • The building library program is managed by a full time, certified school librarian • The school librarian and the library program are instrumental partners in a systematic information literacy instruction program taught within the school. • A physical school library exists within the building • A 2002 Ohio School District Report Card rating with supporting data must be available. • The Library promotes and encourages reading for academic sachievement and life-long learning. • The Library provides, integrates, and utilizes a technology rich environment to support teaching and learning.

14. Getting The Data • 2 InstrumentsImpacts on Learning Survey (Students) Perceptions of Learning Impacts (Faculty) • “helps” measure of 48 statements of learning outcomes: (13,123 students) • Critical Incident response to capture voice of students (10,316 responses) • Evidence-based response to capture voice of faculty “how they know the library helps students”

15. 7 Sets of “help” • How helpful the school library is with getting information you need • How helpful the school library is with using the information to complete your school work Information Literacy skills) • How helpful the school library is with your school work in general (knowledge building, knowledge outcomes) • How helpful the school library is with using computers in the library, at school, and at home • How helpful the school library is to you with your general reading interests • How helpful the school library is to you when you are not at school (independent learning) • General school aspects –Academic Achievement

20. Critical Incident • “Now, remember one time when the school library really helped you. Write about the help that you got, and what you were able to do because of it” • To validate – “witness” quantitative data; to elucidate “helps” not identified in 48 statements; to provide the “voice” of the students • 10,328 written statements were received, and these were cleaned to 10,316 valid statements “it help me sell my body for fruit snacks” “zfzswdegegegeeeee”

21. Sample Characteristics Boys 48.0% Girls 51.1% Ages 7 – 20 Grades 3 –5 17% Grades 6 – 9 45% Grades 10 – 12 38% White 78.5%, African-American 5% Urban/Suburban 81%, Rural 10 % 73 students indicated “does not apply”

22. Celebrate School Libraries • I’m in Grade 8. I don’t get it. Why do I need to do this survey? Isn’t it obvious to everyone that we have to have our school library to do all our school work. It’s impossible to do it without it, that’s for sure. (male) • We all know that school libraries help students. Why must we have a survey about it? All schools need libraries, so let’s not worry about the surveys. (Grade 11 female) • I do most of my school work at home, and not at school, but I do use the school library quite often when we need hard book references for things such as reports and Hyperstudio projects. Thank you for taking the time to read the answers to my survey, whoever you are. Your time, patience, and effort is greatly appreciated as we need good libraries. (Grade 10 male)

23. T O P L E V E L S O F H E L P

24. M O S T H E L P F U L

25. Comparison of Mean Scores

26. Additional “Help” Constructs 1. The school library saves me time with doing my school work 2. The school library enables me to complete my work on time 3. The school library helps me by providing a study environment for me to work 4. The school library helps me take stress out of learning 5. The school library helps me know my strengths and weaknesses with information use 6. The school library helps me think about the world around me 7. The school library helps me do my work more efficiently 8. The school library provides me with a safe environment for ideas investigation 9. The library helps me set my goals and plan for things.

27. Delaware: Understanding “No Helps” 1) students who do not go to the library and do not make use of the library 2) students who prefer to find information elsewhere 3) students who were aware, but did not use since they did not experience the need of it (“I can do it myself”) 4) students who identified personnel or other barriers to receiving help from the school library.

28. The Students’ Voices 777 When I was working on a project about science I had no idea what I was doing I asked my library teachers for help they helped and by the end of the day I felt so much better!!! And from that day on I knew what I was doing on that project and I got a A I was so proud of myself and my confidence went up a whole lot and now when ever I do a project I know I have a lot of power now to do well on projects!!! (Respondent 777 ) 1532 The school librarians don’t help me at all like they make me do all the stuff myself and wont tell me where the things are even when I already looked – they show me and make me learn how to find the stuff myself and its hard work!!!! You gotta use your brain, they say

29. Students’ Voices • 1015 I I would have never have found the sources I needed for the paper if not for the school library, the public library, and the helpful people who staff those places. They even showed me steps to work through to do the research and complete it. They ran some classes specifically for us and they were very very very helpful • 1075 Well one time was when we had to do a report on Animals and I had no clue how to find information about my animal. So Mrs. X helped me find the information on the computer. On the internet if its true or false – to learn that is very important at school. • 66 My ideas were a mess and talking to the librarian gave me a way to organize my ideas and present the argument. I did really well!! I’ve never forgotten that – used it to do many other assignments.

30. Students’ Voices • 3532 I was working on History project and we had to have several sources (primary documents) and the librarians instructed the students on how to go about finding the information we needed and compiling it into something worthwhile. I was able to combine everything together and earn a good grade. • 100 I needed help doing a project for government that had to do with presidents and they had so many books and then the librarian helped me find web sites. But then they gave me ways of sorting through all the ideas to extract the key points so I could get my head around it all

31. 433 It helped me find info on racism for a 10th grade project, and made me really think about that, especially I didn’t realize how racist some of my ideas were • 6256 Sometimes I argue with my parents about things and use the library to check if my opinions are true • 1408 One time, I wanted books on Teen Suicide and they were able to get some for me. It was helpful of them as my cousin died that way and I could figure it out a bit more for me. • 6110 I guess I’ve discovered one thing. When I do my research well, and do the proper thing with note cards and writing in my own words, I seem to just get to know the stuff and that makes a big help when I talk about the stuff in class.

32. Some Interesting Patterns 1. Girls generally consider school libraries more helpful than boys • Helps are strongest in the elementary school, with a decrease shown in mean scores as students progress through schooling. • African American students find the school library to be significantly more helpful in relation to reading development and interests, when they are learning away from school, and in terms of the overall perceptions of achievement.

34. Constructivist frameworks must underpin the pedagogy, collections and access of school libraries learners construct deep knowledge and deep understanding rather than passively receiving it learners are directly involved and engaged in the discovery of new knowledge and development of new skills, attitudes and experiences learners transfer new knowledge and skills to new circumstances Key Implications for School Libraries } PEDAGOGY AND INSTRUCTIONAL INTERVENTIONS OF SCHOOL LIBRARIANS

35. Instruction • What constitutes appropriate and effective information literacy instruction in school libraries? • Collaboration: partner leaders • Targeted, explicit intervention • Guided, constructivist approach • Move from teaching about finding information to building deep knowledge from found information

36. Constructivist frameworks must underpin the pedagogy, collections and access of school libraries learners encounter alternative perspectives and conflicting ideas so that they are able to transform prior knowledge and experience into deep understandings Key Implications for School Libraries READING FOUNDATIONS OF SCHOOL LIBRARIES ------------ NATURE OF COLLECTIONS OF SCHOOL LIBRARIES }

37. The School Library as Center of Productive Pedagogy

38. Key Implications for School LibrariesReading Patterns • In terms of perceptions of how school libraries help students, reading statements overall ranked low, compared to other helps • Reading helps strongest in elementary school, and decline throughout schooling • Reading helps significantly higher for African American students • Reading helps significantly higher for girls rather than boys • The scores of schools in small cities are significantly higher than other type of schools

39. Mean Reading Scores by Grade

40. What Works: Ohio Research • Responsiveness to expressed need • Availability of latest releases • Personalized, targeted, proactive service • Identifying interests, developing self-esteem • Currency & relevance; connecting with the library opens other doors • Using curriculum as link to reading enjoyment and enrichment: leaping from curriculum to personal interest • Showing that academic success can be achieved through improving reading • Personal empowerment: learning about self • Knowing the dynamics of improving reading • Understand the lives of your students • Making links from reading to writing • Improved reading, improved searching • Intervention matters

41. Reading-Literacy-Knowledge Life Cycle: Delaware Survey of 154 public school libraries in Delaware (2004-2005) (100% of public school libraries) Measured: - School Library employees - Frequency of co-operations, co-ordinations, collaborations - Participation in professional development activities - Provision of professional development activities - Information literacy interventions - Reading / writing initiatives - Significant learning outcomes enabled by school library - Information resources, information technology, budgets

42. Reading-Literacy-Knowledge Life Cycle: Delaware • Typical activities to promote reading: literature displays, book talks, promoting information resources, reading incentive programs, and to a much lesser extent story telling, book clubs and author visits. • Primarily passive activities. • Reading activities that foster active student engagement, discussion and creative outputs far less frequently reported. • High school students “don’t have time to read”.

43. AN ACTIVE READING CULTURE • Focus on reading activities that foster active student engagement, discussion and creative outputs: • web blogs; • book raps; • interactive book reviews; • online literature circles, • reading pals online; • create your own e-books; • student-run school reading web pages

44. “We middle schoolers are the future generation and will do great things and we can't do those things if we don't have a library to learn things from. We learn through books and get ideas from other inventions and we can't do these things without books to read the information from”

45. Barriers • Developing an inclusive community: boys and girls • Demands of curriculum: No time to read • Playing psychologist? Moral high ground? • Personality issues: Enforced choice • Perceive reading enrichment to be the role of the public library: Seamless environments? • Library systems and rules: what do they convey about what is important?

46. ISSUESHow School Libraries Don’t Help? • The problematic nature of library instruction • Playing psychologist? Moral high ground? • Personality issues • Infringement of perceived rights / BESS • Library systems and rules – who do they benefit? Who do they serve? • What do we convey to students that is important?

47. Without Effective School Libraries? • What would happen if this help was not provided through school libraries? • What would happen without the instructional intervention of teacher- librarians?

48. The school library help me in many ways I can't explain to you I just know that my grades have improved because of the librarends. The library teacher is a big help to any of the children in the school. (3588.B8)

49. “It is hard to set in motion what is still, or to stop what is in motion” Cobham Brewer 1810–1897 Dictionary of Phrase and Fable